The best years of a Jewish refugee's life in China

来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/04/19 12:26:30

The best years of a Jewish refugee's life in China

08:28, May 06, 2010      

Email | Print | Subscribe | Comments | Forum 

Increases the bookmark twitter facebook digg Google Windowslive Delicious buzz friendfeed Linkedin diigo reddit stumbleupon

Sarah Ross, a 96-year-old Jerusalem citizen, is eyewitness to the birth of two modern nations, both led by ancient peoples: China and Israel.

She grew up as a Jewish refugee in Shanghai during World War II, and has lived in Israel since 1948.

Sarah's experiences symbolize a hardy connection between the two countries. On the walls and in the cabinets of her tidy, simple home, her extensive collection of Chinese furniture, wall- hangings and paintings, vases and small statues embody her memories of life in Shanghai.

FANTASTIC CITY

Sarah sits in her wheelchair and watches the dimming of the day from her bedroom window. She wears an embroidered green satin Chinese robe, which reminds her of her days in Shanghai.

"The best years of my life I spent in China, because people accepted us in a very friendly way," Sarah recalls, smiling, of her early years.

Sarah and her family moved to China from Russia in 1915 when she was one year old. Her father was a horse-breeder and trainer, a skill that helped the family to settle and prosper in their new home.

Ross grew up in Harbin, a city in northeast China, where she met and married her husband, a Russian Jew born in Harbin. After that, the couple spent an event-filled decade in Shanghai until they moved to Jerusalem.

"At that time, Shanghai was wonderful," she says. "It was a very difficult city, but, at the same time it was fantastic," she says.

"If you are rich, you may became poor, and if you are a poor man, you have a lot of chances to be rich in Shanghai," she muses of the tumultuous wartime era.

Sarah was excited to learn about the Shanghai World Expo 2010. She explains her attraction to the city, saying "Russian people say, those who drink a little water from the Huangpu River will forever be in love with Shanghai."

Sarah says her oldest memories are the most powerful, even as the years and decades fade.

"Since I remember, I remember myself among Chinese people," but for now, in a quiet Jerusalem apartment and surrounded by Chinese lanterns and calendars, porcelain and fading photos, Sarah can only reminisce about Shanghai, and a colorful life in China long ago.

Some of her statues have been chipped and broken over the six decades, but she keeps them anyway. They are like old friends to her, who have shared the same travails.

"You see, it still is very beautiful," she says as she gently handles a tiny, cracked blue-glazed lion, "they are just old, like me."

SAFE HAVEN

Jews have lived in China since at least the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century. Many were traders, who made their way from Europe to Asia across the Silk Road. Since late 19th century, many Russian Jews made their way eastward to China.

These refugees prospered there and many - like Sarah - considered China a safe haven.

During World War II, so many Jewish refugees flooded into Shanghai. "In Shanghai," Sarah says, "you could meet people from all nations, of all ages."

It was "a very cruel war," she says of the clashes and horrors that engulfed millions of people. Reports of the horrors coming out of Nazi-occupied Europe that reached Shanghai still haunt her, 70 years later.

Her impeccable Russian-accented English falters as she describes the Holocaust. "Six million people - it is something. It is something. I would not do to my panda what they did to Jewish people. Terrible," she tightly clutches a panda doll between her veined gnarled hands and grieves.

"In China, we lived safely," Sarah summarizes the war years. She notes that the Chinese welcomed the Jewish refugees, and that she and her family felt at home in her adopted country.

Shanghai took in 30,000 Jewish refugees who managed to escape the Nazi onslaught - more than Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India combined.

Sarah would have had numerous occasions to meet many people from around the world in her role as an agent of photography studio.

She gained practical experience at the photo agency, skills that would serve her well in the near future.

"I AM FROM CHINA"

After the war ended, Sarah and her husband began working as photographers.

The couple continued their nascent careers after moving to Israel. In a lucky stroke, both were soon hired by the Israeli government to photograph events at the presidential residence.

They have photographed the first five Israeli presidents in decades.

"It was very, very interesting. They are people who are now like a legend," Sarah says.

Her photos show a panoply of world leaders that visited Israel, both in war and peacetime. Many of the pictures catch the officials at ease and at unrehearsed moments, a sign of Sarah's photographic skill.

Sarah recalls one occasion soon after she began taking photographs. An official watching her covering an event was impressed by her abilities behind the lens and asked, "Hey, newcomer, where are you from?"

"I am from China! From Shanghai!" Sarah smiled and proudly replied.

Her Chinese connection again came to the fore when she was tasked with photographing the first Chinese ambassador to Israel, Lin Zhen. She says her heart was pounding in expectation.

"I was happy, and I told my husband, 'I am going to take that photograph,'" she recalls, showing off a personal photo of her and the ambassador, encased in an ornate frame in her living room.

When she later presented Lin Zhen with the photos, she wrote on the back of one of them, "I never dreamed that, after 30 years, I would photograph the ambassador of the country where I happily lived all my life!"

Source:Xinhua 

Related Reading

  • China opposes Israeli plan to build new Jewish settlements

  • China seriously concerned over Israel's housing plan in East Jerusalem

  • Senior Chinese legislator meets Israeli lawmaker

  • Chinese minister says cultural exchanges help bring Israeli, Chinese peoples closer

  • China urges Israel to act cautiously

  • Israelis to "experience China" in October

  • Chinese envoy holds talks with Israeli president

  • China, Israel agree to boost bilateral ties

  • China, Israel to continue co-op to boost bilateral ties

  • Int'l credit crunch shifts Israeli business focus in China

The best years of a Jewish refugee's life in China The Best Years OF One＇s life the best moments in life A Day in the Life of Web2.0 A Day in the Life of Web 2.0(转) A Day in the Life of Web 2.0 Essay: The Best Day Of My Life Essay: The Best Day Of My Life The Best Of Peter, Paul And Mary: Ten Years T... Blacks Set Out in Search of a Better Life in 1920s American Society People welcome the year of tiger in SE China's Fujian Province The most funny mottos in the fifty states of U.S.A. The courting of China’s powerful princelings China's vice premier urges accuracy of once-in-a-decade census Best of the Blogs Buffett‘s Gift: Starting a New Page in the History of Giving to Charity celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China The Larger Sūtra of Immeasurable Life CHART OF THE DAY: The Massive Drop In Nokia's... Cuba, following in the footsteps of China and Vietnam Part 1: A way of life in Montana THE MEANING OF LIFE The Light of Life THE MEANING OF LIFE。。。